T he handwritten books that arrived at the Palace Treasury
from all over the globe when the Ottoman Empire ruled
the four corners of the earth are among the most valuable
items in the Topkapi Palace Museum today, as valuable
perhaps as even the famous Kashoggi diamond.
The Library of Topkapi Palace Museum contains thousands
of such manuscripts, housed in the Aðalar Camii,
or Mosque of the Eunuchs, one of the palace’s
first buildings. This building, which was in ruins
at the time the palace was being converted into a
museum, was restored in 1928 to house the books scattered
hither and yon throughout the vast complex. With the
exception of those in the Library of Ahmed III, all
the books were later removed here to a building known
as the Yeni Kutuphane or New Library. In 1966 the
books from the Ahmed III Library were transferred
here as well.